Equis raises $1.25bn equity from ADIA and Ontario Teachers’

Equis Development, a Singapore-based company focusing on renewables and waste-to-energy, has secured $1.25 billion of equity from a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Equis’ management team.

Lance Comes, managing director of Equis, said the firm plans to commit more than $2 billion into renewable energy and waste infrastructure assets across its target markets – Australia, Japan and South Korea – over the next two years. It is currently developing or constructing 40 assets across those countries.

“Part of the $1.25 billion of equity will be invested in the two-year commitment plan,” Comes told Infrastructure Investor. “How much will be dependent upon how much debt we wish to raise against investments. Historically, Equis conservatively raises debt with respect to its assets. The utilisation of debt does, however, allow Equis to develop and finance more investments,” he said.

The company is active throughout the lifecycle of an asset, including originating, financing, developing, constructing through to operations, maintenance, asset management and optimisation.

For ADIA and OTPP the investment in Equis Development provides them the opportunity to build scale in the region’s renewables sector, according to a statement.

The firm was active in infrastructure deals in Asia this year. In August, it completed an equity capital raise of around 100 billion Korean won ($89.9 million; €76.1 million) for a new Korean WTE joint venture, Vine Enviro, in a partnership with Hana Financial Investment.

In March, the company acquired 100 percent of Jara 1, a 22MW solar generation project and a 70MWh battery storage project in Korea, for $50 million. At the time, Equis said the projects would be operational in September and the firm had expanded Jara 1 to a $250 million project, which also includes transmission lines and a substation.

“The commencement of operation in Jara is imminent. We continue to develop the projects to their full capacity, and this is an ongoing process over the next 12 months,” Comes said.

Originally a fund manager called Equis Funds Group, Equis shifted its focus to infrastructure development after selling its renewables platform to a consortium led by Global Infrastructure Partners for $5 billion in January 2018. Equis Development was launched in June 2019 after a restructuring of Equis’ asset and capital management model.

In August, it sold two Japanese biomass power plants, with a combined capacity of 126.5MW, to a wholly owned subsidiary of Tokyo Gas. Both assets, the Toyama project and Ichihara project, were owned by Equis Asia Fund 2. It is unclear whether the vehicle has been fully divested.